1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus for supplying water, more particularly to an apparatus for supplying deozonized ozone sterilized water capable of entraining ozone generated by UV radiation treatment in water stream for sterilizing the water, and of deozonizing the ozone treated water.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known that ozone, which is an extremely strong oxidant and which has a high water solubility, can be entrained in water for killing microorganisms in the water for sterilization, and is available by converting oxygen to ozone by radiation of a UV light. Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional ozone generating device is shown to include an outer housing 1 which has a gas inlet 101 connected to an air pump 3 for supply of air, and a gas outlet 102 disposed downstream of the gas inlet 101. An ultraviolet lamp 2 is received in the housing 1 so as to irradiate the air flowing through the outer housing 1 to produce ozone-containing gas. The gas outlet 102 is disposed to be in fluid communication with a water supplying conduit (not shown) to form a water supplying system for supplying sterilized water.
While the above method can generate ozone from air for sterilizing water, the following drawbacks arise:
1. The heat generated in the outer housing 1 owing to radiation of the UV lamp 2 causes to break down and dissolution of the ozone and a decrease in the concentration of the ozone entrained in the water, thereby resulting in a reduction in the sterilizing effect.
2. The ozone sterilized water requires a settling time of at least 20 minutes to deozonize the water for drinking, thereby resulting in lower efficiency for the water supplying system.
The object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for supplying deozonized ozone sterilized water which can overcome the above drawbacks.
According to this invention, the apparatus comprises a water supplying conduit adapted for water stream flow, which includes a water feeding inlet in fluid communication with a water source, an outlet for delivering the deozonized ozone sterilized water and disposed downstream of the water feeding inlet, and an intermediate treatment section disposed upstream of the outlet and downstream of the water feeding inlet. The intermediate treatment section has at least a transmissible portion that is made from an ultraviolet radiation permeable material. An ozone-containing gas generating member includes a feeding end for entry of oxygen-containing gas, a gas removing end disposed downstream of the feeding end, and an ozone-containing gas generating section disposed upstream of the gas removing end and downstream of the feeding end. A first ultraviolet lamp unit is disposed to irradiate the oxygen-containing gas flowing through the ozone-containing gas generating section to produce an ozone-containing gas. A cooling system is disposed to cool the ozone-containing gas generating section when the oxygen-containing gas flowing therein is irradiated by the first ultraviolet lamp unit. A gas introducing valve includes a proximate end in fluid communication with the water supplying conduit at a position which is downstream of the water feeding inlet and upstream of the intermediate treatment section, and a distal end in fluid communication with the gas removing end so as to entrain the ozone-containing gas in the water stream. A second ultraviolet lamp is disposed adjacent to the transmissible portion of the intermediate treatment section to irradiate the intermediate treatment section to break down the ozone entrained in the water stream flowing therethrough, thereby delivering the deozonized sterilized water out of the outlet.